Carol Kreeger Davidson: The Abstract Figure
A Retrospective Exhibition

Carol Kreeger Davidson: The Abstract Figure, a retrospective exhibition of the work of American sculptor Carol Kreeger Davidson will be at the Reading Public Museum September 14 - December 29, 2002. The Opening Member Reception is September 14, 2002 with an Artist's Talk at 5:30pm and the reception immediately following. Over the past thirty years, Davidson has created a memorable group of geometric sculptures that are considered groundbreaking due to her use of industrial materials to reinvent the human figure. Davidson's use of ordinary materials was not new to 20th century sculpture, but her constant experimentation with new construction methods and her extraordinary range and respect for metals, fiberglass-paper, wood, neoprene, urethane, rope, cable and Arches Cover paper make her forms mysterious, haunting and unforgettable. This exhibit is included with regular Museum admission of $5 adults, $3 children 4 to 17. Members and children under 4 are free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 11am to 5pm, Wednesday 11am to 8pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm.

An artist since 1973, Davidson's work has emerged from her early wall relief work of paper, canvas, neoprene cord and aluminum to her larger-than-life abstract figures. With her breakthrough technique of bending, folding, and bolting rather than welding she has taken the method of paper collage and applied it to surprising materials with remarkable results. Her use of color is unparalleled in contemporary sculpture - especially her lack of human tones used to cover her figures. This choice results in stirring ambiguous emotional tensions. Also, her preference for tubular and columnar shapes, often with overlapping planes and sensuous contours are created by rolling and bending sheets of metal or fiberglass-paper and linen into smooth tubular forms that reveal few anatomical details. When human body parts are referenced, it is usually an arm from the joint of the elbow or the leg below the knee. Davidson has mastered the tapering of these limbs, which contract at the top and bottom and become more enlarged as they reach the center of the torso. Many of her sculptures are headless, topped with hooded, ribbonlike curved forms. This is apparent in her Days of Danger series - her most forbidding and enigmatic figures - Elam, Ninurta-Dinitu, Nimrud, Pazuzu and Dirvish - featured in this retrospective exhibition at the Reading Public Museum.

Also included in Carol Kreeger Davidson: The Abstract Figure are two videos, "Borneo Playback, A Sabah Story," and "Nancy Savin, The Arts," an interview with Davidson. From 1967 to 1968 Davidson was in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia with her two children because her husband joined the Peace Corps. She returned to Borneo in 1982 and collaborated on the film "Borneo Playback, A Sabah Story" which aired on PBS in June 1985. It was made to fulfill a promise to a native musician, who became a close family friend, to tell the story of his people. "It was a risk to abandon sculpture for two years, but the human rewards were enormous," states Davidson. The experience filtered into her art, adding to its expressive power.

This retrospective exhibit features close to 40 sculptures created from 1976 to 2002 chronologically representing her metamorphosis as an artist. Visitors will have the opportunity to view her ingenious neoprene work, paper pillar wall reliefs, voluptuous puppets, Spanish bronzes and intriguing human figures. Also included are 30 works on paper. Davidson's work will be exhibited on the Second Floor, the Atrium and on the grounds.

Carol Kreeger Davidson currently resides in Connecticut with her husband Donald. She is originally from Chicago, Illinois where she received her B.A. in Literature from Northwestern University. After she got married and moved to Connecticut, she graduated Cum Laude Honors in Sculpture from University of Hartford then went on to receive her M.F.A. Fellowship from Rhode Island School of Design. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Hartford in 1981.